This
week’s news in brief
NHS
staff survey
Almost
400,000 staff are taking part in the first national NHS staff survey, with all
trusts in England surveying some staff. The survey replaces trusts’ own annual
staff surveys, and will allow them to benchmark themselves against other NHS
organisations. www.chi.nhs.uk
Discrimination
guide
Arbitration
and conciliation service Acas has published draft guides on discrimination on
the grounds of sexual orientation and religion and/ or belief. The guides
provide a comprehensive summary of the new law, case studies, best practice
guidelines, and a Q&A section. www.acas.org.uk
Online
safety
The
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has launched a new online guide
to handling dangerous substances. It covers the main risks associated with
working with dangerous substances, and allows users to choose from more than 40
key topics or by economic sector. http://europe.osha.eu.int/good_practice/risks/dangerous_substances/index.php
Low-wage
culture
More
than 260,000 jobs in the UK pay less than the legal minimum wage, according to
the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics. However, this
represents a fall of 70,000 since the last low pay estimate in spring 2002. www.statistics.gov.uk
Men
get the vote
Despite
the drive for workplace sexual equality, the majority of the UK workforce would
still prefer to work for a male boss, according to a poll of nearly 3,500 UK
employees by recruitment website Monster. www.monster.co.uk
